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How To Tell if a Review is Legitimate or Not

November 13, 2013

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There are millions of reviews to read out there on the internet. Some are good, some are bad and some ugly. Businesses rely on positive online reviews now more than ever as they have become an integral part of the sales cycle. However, now that online reviews have become more of a commodity, the quality and validity of reviews has come into question.

Businesses are willing to do just about anything to get positive reviews. Online testimonials and reviews are key factors impacting the degree of trust that consumers form with the brands they are researching. With this inflated value placed on words of praise, we recommend taking them with a grain of salt. Companies are not above paying for copywriters to spin gold from their keyboards, after all.

The darker side of this commodification of online reviews arises when it comes to negative reviews. It can be difficult to determine what`s true and what isn`t. It can be extremely disappointing to find a company and become invested in what you see (whether it`s their amazing product that you want, or a service that you really need) only to find out that their online reputation is, well, crap. The thing is, if they do have some seriously bad reviews, they may not be their fault. Find out how to read reviews and get to the truth about a company below.

Negative SEO

Dark and dirty are words that can be used to describe negative SEO. Negative SEO works to diminish a company`s reputation by posting bad things about them on review sites all over the internet. It also includes poor quality link stuffing on the websites of others and several additional factors to hinder one`s competition online.

Some companies invest in negative SEO out of desperation and others out of aggression. With the internet lending itself well to anonymity, there is very little a business can do if they are on the receiving end of this type of attack. Links can be removed, but reviews are extremely difficult – if not impossible – to get rid of.

So how can you tell if you are reading a real review or a fake one? Keep reading.

Place, Time & Writing Style

Important things to consider are: the author, the time and the style of writing. It is common to find negative SEO companies overseas. If a review is a result of negative SEO, it is a good idea to consider the time of day that the review was posted. Was it 3AM? This could indicate that the review wasn`t local. If you are a looking at a local business, you will know that this review could be untrue.

Also consider the writing style. Is it written with proper grammar? If it is really poor quality it has probably been purchased. Spam reviews rarely come out of North American businesses, unless they are from high school kids in their parent`s basements. Most negative SEO providers also use Blackhat SEO practices.

Blackhat includes software that spins content (rearranges it automatically) and posts it to review websites and blogs. This is another reason why the grammar or phrasing might seem a little strange if you are reading a fake review. The software does work, but it`s less than ideal.

Rumor or Reality?

Consider the phrasing in the arguments you are reading. Are the reviewers talking about their own direct experience with the company, or, are they discussing things that they have heard? Obviously speculation is far less authentic than actual experience or engagement with a business.

Also, what is their point exactly? Are they suggesting that they should have gotten free service or some form of payment? Even if a bad review is written by a real customer, it doesn`t always mean it`s justified. If it is written in a rational, logical way in order to educate others about a specific flaw in a business that`s one thing. If you find a review like this, believe it because it`s probably true.

On the other hand, if a customer is USING ALL CAPS, speaking in generalities or mentioning money over and over it might be a good idea to question what they are saying. Does this customer seem rational? Reliable? Reasonable? Or, do they seem like they are out to get revenge at all costs? Cases of people seeking revenge are not typically a good indication of a business`s overall merits, and are usually in response to more rare, isolated incidents in which the company in question has not provided the necessary customer service to diffuse the bomb.

People are emotional creatures, and this type of thing really can happen anytime. Maybe that customer service rep spilled her coffee all over herself seconds before interacting with a hot headed customer; her patience at an all time low. Presto! The perfect storm to set the stage for some online slander. Obviously the larger your business is, the greater the chances are that these interactions could happen to you.

Wisdek offers consultations for online reputation management as well as provides it as a service. If you feel like you have been hit by some Negative SEO there are several things we can do to help you. Our link Disavowing services work wonders to remove things that are holding your business back from thriving online. Contact us today to learn more about what you can do to mitigate negative reviews, how you can encourage more positive reviews, and to find out if you have been hit by Negative SEO.

Testimonials

Alan Augustinovich

bplexperts.com

I did my research because I know a lot of SEO companies exist and wanted to choose the right one for me. Wisdek's reviews on BBB were good and they explained themselves quite well in my opinion. I approached them for a website design and online marketing program. They took the time to understand everything that I wanted to include in my website and made recommendations even before I signed with them to ensure everything was user friendly and also stayed within Google's guidelines. Next, they treated me with respect and advised us of how long it would take to get ourselves noticed online. All reports are delivered on time and everything is explained to us monthly. Due to their efforts I have been able to gain more clients and people to my website so If you are looking for a company that will simplify the Website and online marketing process to you and show you realistic results at a good price, Wisdek is the way to go.

Anton Snegiroff

CloudedMindsVape.com

We started working with Wisdek in June of 2016. We have approached them with an idea that shortly became our core business. They developed our website within one month. We were very happy with the process and communications. We just opened our store location and Wisdek's technicians helped us set up email, hosting and Google maps. We are very excited to start our search engine optimization campaign and grow our business nationwide.

Peter Anhtos

FireitupBBQ.com

My experiences with Wisdek SEO has exceeded my expectations with the impressive scope of the program. Like many business owners, we find it difficult to stay on top of many of the changes and updates on the SEO industry to stay ahead. We have to rely on experts like Wisdek to do all of the research required to keep up to date with the internet visibility needed to support my business. I look forward to the upgrade, and I look forward to a continued partnership with Wisdek.
Peter Anhtos

Christopher Fuccillo

Niagaravintagewinetours.com

We've asked Wisdek to develop our new site and we were quite happy how this project turned out. We've got ourselves involved further with Wisdek by expanded into SEO. They've helped us grow our business locally during first three month and thereafter globally. We still work with Wisdek on daily basis.
Christopher Fuccillo
President

Ron Daniel

Planetsoho.com

We've worked with Wisdek right from the beginning to develop and launch our SEO equipped website. We've grown tremendously on account of their SEO and funnel optimization services. Thanks to Wisdek we were able to take our initial steps onto the market in a quick, safe and inexpensive way. We made the decision to jump in with both feet an utilize almost every unique service that they offer and we're glad we did. Today we have over 1 million clients that are getting organized, getting promoted and getting paid using our application.

Ernie Loch

Abacusselfstorage.com

I’ve been with Wisdek for over 2 years now and I am very pleased with their service. What was promised, was delivered. About 3 months after I started I began to enjoy good rankings across Google, Yahoo and Bing. Also, the cost was not unreasonable! Wisdek’s service delivers more leads than posting an add in an old fashioned printed directory and is more affordable than print listings were 5 years ago!
Today I have expanded my services with Wisdek from my beginnings in SEO, to PPC and Content Network Advertising. The return on investment has been incredible. I truly believe Wisdek offers their clients cutting edge marketing services and puts businesses where people are searching. I would like to recommend Wisdek to anyone who needs consistent leads for their business.

Malcolm Macdonald

Northgatechiropractic.ca

Northgate Chiropractic & Massage Therapy Centre in Calgary has used Web based advertising and marketing since 2004. As a result of continual investment and effort, our web site always came up first in local searches. The payoff came 3 years ago when people really began to use search as a way of finding our services. Last fall, our internet traffic slowed considerably and we noted that our search listing had dropped from first on page one to the middle of page four, literally making us disappear.
One of our service providers, Eran Hurvitz of Wisdek, explained to us that Google had changed their rules for search and were imposing a penalty on our web site for having back links. (The very thing they promoted previously as improving our web site standing). This penalty resulted in our listing being dropped to page four. There were thousands of these links and it looked like a significant job to remove these links. Eran offered the services of Wisdek to clean up these links and petition Google to remove this penalty. It was initially estimated to take 3 to 6 months to complete this task. To our great pleasure, Wisdek achieved the penalty removal in just over one month. We are now back on top for our local area and are very pleased with Wisdek’s service.
I would strongly recommend Wisdek and for web based service.

Guidy Mamann

Migrationlaw.com

Wisdek has provided me with a service I need to make my business grow. It has saved me a substantial amount of time by outsourcing and has allowed me to generate more revenue and build more customer relationships.
My clients are international, there is no better way to reach them than online!

Tony & Bruna Cooper

Firearmslessons.ca

Our Firearm Safety Training business did not exist before we started working with Business Media and Wisdek. Business Media built us a beautiful SEO-Ready website from scratch that is now pulling in leads left right and center. Wisdek applied their most affordable SEO package for local coverage, and it was so effective that we started to rank all across the PROVINCE!
Business is so good that the phones are now ringing daily. We are happy to report that we will be opening a second location as well as a massive firing range in the next few months to capitalize on the overflow. We are actually going to upgrade our campaign with Wisdek to push our business even harder!!
Tony and Bruna Cooper